6. Activities

Objective 1: Opening of childcare center will encourage mothers’employment, their economic independence and social participation

1-a) IVY organizes a preparatory team for opening of childcarecenter

IVY recruits a project manager for this project. Call for motherswho are wishing the opening of childcare center to organize a preparatory team

1-b) the project team will take a field survey to mothers who havechildren

1-c) IVY rent and reform a house to use as a childcare center

1-d) Procurement of childcare tools

Call for local citizens to donate necessary childcare tools suchas small piano, picture books and toys.

1-e) IVY recruits child-minders and nurses to work at the center

Recruit people who have license of child-minder and IVY putpriority on evacuees. 

1-f) Start interviewing mothers of children

Advertise the opening of the center through mailing list andnewspaper ads to start interviewing mothers of children. Minimum condition forusing the center is that they are evacuees from Fukushima or affected people ofthe disaster. Priorities are placed on the mothers who are working or wishingto work. If we have extra capacity, children of mothers who are not working canbe accepted.

1-g) Opening of childcare center

Opening days and time: weekday from Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm

* Time extension and service for holidays will be considered aftera while.

Target: infants to preschool children

Charge: 15,000~25,000 JPY per month (including food providing andinsurance)

This charge is under consideration. Normally for accreditedchildcare center, the charge is determined depending on parents’ income withgovernment subsidy. Family who receives livelihood subsidies will not becharged for childcare services for accredited center.

Objective 2: Childcare center will provide quality childcareservice for children

2-a) Provide lunch andsnack to be cooked safty ingredient (ex:organic,chemical –free and Cesium-free)

Objective 3: Mothers’ stress for childcare will be reduced

3-a) Counseling room for mothers

・train motherswho have an aptitude to be counselors for mothers.

・prepare acounseling room (13m2) separated from a childcare room to provide counselingservice for mothers. Trained counselors and IVY hired counselors will providethe services not limited to mothers who are using the center (any affectedmothers are welcome). Appointment system during nap time for children

Provide spaces to mothers in order to share informativeinformation, so that they can not only release their anxieties and troubles,but also be encouraged to translate their ability into actions.

7. Project team

Project manager: 1

Child-minder: 5 (4 of them have a license)

Reception, accounting, general affairs: 1 person

HQ support team staff: 4

8. The long –termplans

The first phase

1, Managemetprograms: Take charge of thecoordination and management for establishing the childcare center, as well asthe office procedure. Prepare anadequate system for child-minders in order to improve their work performances.

2,Activityprograms: Monthly childcare(infant to preschool children) ,temporary childcare, care of schoolchildren outside of schooltime, hold consultations and informationexchange meeting for parents and Child-minders.

The second phase

1,Managementprograms: IVY will be only involved infundraising , property management, accounting, labor management,administrative procedure. Child-mindersand parents will manage the childcare center independently.

2,Activityprograms: Commence the sick children day care and activities of chind-minderswith parents.

The third phase

1, Managementprograms: IVY will be only involved infundraising. Stuffs in childcare centerwill take charge of property management, accounting and labor management. Openworkshops and parent-teacher conferences in order to enhance the quality of thechildcare services.

2, Activityprograms: Stimulate the activities of parent-teacher conference; create asystem which is able to cooperate with the institution management.

9. Total ProgramCost: US$ 419,728 (1^st phase)

Childcare environment arrangement for mothers and childrenevacuated from Fukushima

2. Projectbackground

80% of evacuees affected by Fukushima nuclear power plant accident(approximately 5100 households) stay in Yamagata Prefecture, adjacent toFukushima Prefecture. In Yamagata city where IVY has its office, 1400 familiesare living, and this is the largest number all over Japan.

According to story that IVY staff heard directly from evacuees, majorityof them are voluntary evacuees who moved from Nakadoori area, central areaincluding Fukushima city and Kooriyama city far from the evacuation zone, andmany of them are household of mother and children younger than elementaryschool children.

One of the reasons that these people decided to come to Yamagatais that their home area has high level of cesium but decontamination work hasbeen late due to higher priority on evacuation zone. A newspaper article saysthat decontamination work will take 4 year to finish (in 2016) and only smallarea is completed. Because children tend to be exposed to radiation more thanadults, mothers with little children, pregnant/expected mothers and wife areconcerned about health influence and moved to other areas apart from theirhusband or family.

Such evacuation life has been last for more than 1 year, and theystarted to have various problems such as huge economic burden, childcare forpreschool children, chasm between husband and wife caused by the aforementionedproblems that lead to child abuse or divorce cases (rent subsidy is only 60000JPY from Government).

Problem withchildcare service for preschoolers

Even before the disaster, Yamagata city is known as a municipalitywith a long waiting list for childcare services and as of the end of May 97families are waiting for the services. Accredited childcare centers that meetstandards of the government can get subsidies from the government or localmunicipality, and monthly charge can be determined depending on parent’sincome. Households receiving livelihood supports will not be charged for usingthe center. Among evacuees from Fukushima, full-time working mothers whoalready moved their citizenship to Yamagata can be prioritized in the waitinglist, but that is difficult for those who are looking for a job. Some childcarecenter without government subsidies will cost 48,000 JPY per month and this isrelatively high compared to that in Fukushima Prefecture and only financiallystable family can afford such expensive monthly charge.

Therefore, mothers are in a vicious cycle where mothers cannotfind a job because they cannot use a childcare center, so that they cannot beeconomically independent and suffer from economic burdens of evacuation life.Although mothers came to Yamagata to be safe and healthy, this situation makesthem under stressful situation and becoming sick of childbearing and feelingstress.

In order to solve these problems, several organizations werelaunched within a year, but as far as IVY researched, most of the organizationsare facing difficulties because of low manpower and not well-organized as ateam.

Therefore, IVY decided to aim for establishment of the center withmothers who are wishing to use the center with IVY’s experience of supportingtwo childcare centers in Kesennuma city, Miyagi Prefecture. IVY is planning tohand over the management of the center to evacuees after 1 year (1^stphase of the project). 

Economic recovery for future creation

(A long termproject: currently under needs assessment.)

An Overview:

In its 3 years disaster relief plan, IVY isplanning to establish a new business facility or re-establish a devastatedfacility together with local stakeholders to create a long term employmentbasis in the affected areas. IVY believes it is necessary to recover facilitiesof fishing industry, which is the main economic activities in every part of thecoastal side of Tohoku, for regaining its vitality and for a sustainable jobcreation in the areas.

Backgrounds:

The disaster destroyed thousands ofeconomic entities like fish processing factories, fish markets, and any kindsof local shops seriously. The delaying completion of regional recovery plans andserious financial situations don’t allow the owners of factories to restarttheir business quickly. IVY has decided to foster recovery of local economy bysupporting small or mid-sized business entities like factories for Tohoku’seconomic revitalization.

Although IVY has successfully beenproviding temporary working opportunities throughout Cash For Work Project rightafter the disaster as emergent relief, is shifting its focus more on localbusiness-based and long-term employment. 

IVY’s rich experiences in creating andmentoring producer’s associations and agricultural cooperatives in East Asiawould contribute to make a plan with the most effective solution for recoveryof strong local economy in Tohoku.

Progress situation:

A situation and IVY’s Actions:

for sustainable contribution

1. Updates of the center

・ The first phase of job creation project for disaster victim “Cash for Work" which started on April 12 ended on May 31. Lack of funding issues made you all to worry about the sustainability of the project; however, we had secured three more months of funding to continue the project until end of August. Thank you very much for your warm support!

・ We also revised our project operation plan and budget for until next March. (*Please refer to section 2 of this report).

・ During the long holiday of end of April to beginning of May, we have seen the peak of move of the residents from primary shelter to secondary shelter and temporary housing. As a result, deliveries of the relief supplies from our center were expected to slow down. However after the holiday, some residents had moved back to primary shelters and the result, no shelters we have been supporting were closed down. We have also seen that after the holidays, there are significant decrease of relief supplies were available in the region thus, our center had received additional request for assistance from two places in Minami-Sanriku-cho and Onagawa-cho. We are continuing our relief supplies after the holiday in May. (Seven in Onagawa, two in Minami Sanriku-cho, one in Okachi area in Ishinomaki. Total 10 places 270 people)

・ On Saturday May 28, the first activity presentation on the disaster assistance was held in Yamagata City. Volunteers involved in the relief supply delivery activities and four coordinators from Kesennuma and Ishinomaki who are involved in "Cash for Work Project" reported their activities to the supporters.

・ As of June 9, IVY is now an authorized NPO by National Tax Agency for accepting disaster specified donation. (* Please refer to section 7-2 of this report for detail)

・ We moved Ishinomaki office from Hebita to Ookaidonishi.

・ NGO "Chikyunoki" began to support the soup kitchen at the shelter from June 4^th in Kesennuma.

2. Cash For Work Project

1) Phase 1 evaluation

・ In 50 days from April 12 to May 31, we employed 56 people (Ishinomaki 25, Kesennuma 31) who lost jobs due to this disaster. Although there was a wide range in age of people we employed, from fresh graduate from high school to the late 50s, majority of employees were in 20s to 40s. This concludes that the project is suitable for target people in these age range.

・ The sex ratio of the employees was 11 to 3, this shows the need for future job creation for women.

・ The wages paid were 3,000 yen (US$35) to 4,000 yen per (US$47) day in Ishinomaki, 6,000 yen ($71) in Kesennuma. After deducting taxes at the income source, take-home pay is 2,700 yen to 5,400 yen and the amount is not high. In the beginning, four-hour work in Ishinomaki’s take-home pay was only 2700 yen. Responding to the employees request for higher earning, we have raised the hourly pay to 800 yen (US$9.5) and extended working hour to 5 hours a day from April 29^th.

・ "Pay cash at the end of the day" system is very popular, it has been continued in June.

・ Employees said that;

"It’s better to work outside than staying at the shelter all-day and not doing anything"
"I am glad to earn bridging money for my daily life"

"I am happy to help the reconstruction of our town"

"House owners who we worked says 'thank you' and it gives me a rewarding feeling,"

"I lost everything, but by starting this work, I could change my mind set to go on to next step of my life"

"Nice to make companions" such comments shows that they are taking this opportunity positively and having rewarding feeling besides receiving income.

・ The number of actual work completed is 55 in Ishinomaki, 27 in Kesennuma, a total of 82 works.

・ In the beginning, all of them were inexperienced in this field of work. Some employees are working for more than 50 days in this field and their skill level is now as close to professional level. Both teams received hands-on guidance from a Construction company and professional builders at the start of the work seem to be the key to improving their skills.

・ Removing floor boards, digging out of sludge, cleaning and disinfection work is done in a stream-lined work in a team. Careful finish has earned a good reputation from house owners. The house owners tells us that "There are no immediate family members who can lend hands to us in my neighbor, so young people from our community came to work is very much appreciated!" and so on.

From the above results, we conclude that this project is meaningful in the disaster affected area to both who lost jobs and to elderly people who suffer from house damage from the disasters. We also secured three-month funds from various donations, and decided to extend the project until the end of August.

From May 6, we decided to let Ishinomaki team lead the delivery of relief supplies to the shelters on a trial basis.
Two women are in charge, first we asked them to handle only perishable foods delivery, but now receiving orders, procurement, and delivery of other items such as daily materials and clothing is also under their task.
On June 15, Mr. H, a coordinator who worked in this project from the beginning has resigned from our project to resume his original work at orthopedic clinic which reopened. Team members agreed to select the assistant coordinator Mr. S as a coordinator. He first resisted the position for lack of confidence, but after a week as a coordinator role, he has gradually adapting to a new role.

■ Team Kesennuma
・ One full-time coordinator and one accountant were recruited to handle complicated task. This made four member management team with two existing part-time coordinators.

・ On June 13-14, there was a "Happy Share Reporting session” at the Shinagawa Office of “Rush Japan Ltd” The four Kesennuma team member held a booth to report our activity as well as selling specialty products from Kesennuma and Ishinomaki.

・ Responding to the team member’s idea, delivering a lunch boxes to elderly who live in temporary housing started from June 1.

7) Other

・ "Cash for Work Project," article was on the Asahi Shimbun on May 16 morning edition. The article was also streamed over the internet in the English article, about 30 million yen worth of funding support were made not only within Japan but also from Africa, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore. We are all very moved with the size of the response it had made. http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105240125.html

・ We have continuously receive and arrange donors’ field visit including foreign donors, as securing funding is the top priority issue. We put into a lot of energy and time for this task.

3. Others

Total of support fund collected as of June 20^th: 32,060,048 Yen (US$381,667)

We request you for continued support.

You can make donation to Cash for Work with your credit card through the website below (in Japanese)

http://justgiving.jp/npo/440

A.M. (Thanks to Ms.Aya for translation support.)